Author's Note:
LT: Hello lovelies! I must apologize for the long wait… Er… Life? Oh! Blood also forgot our password.
BA: ^^''' My bad. Whoopsie? Its all the drawers fault. I swear.
LT: … That didn't happen until today…
BA: Shhhhh…. They don't know that.
LT: … Then we can thank Gramps for this chapter?
BA: YAAAAAASSSSSSSS!
Disclaimer: We do not own anything that follows, we are not that rich, though it may take us 15 years to finish this… Her grandfather might though. He's that awesome and may actually walk on water.
Chapter Two: Meet the Sensei
"In my ten years of teaching I've noticed that teachers tend to have a bad habit of talking to themselves. I hypothesize that this is because we talk for a living, and we feel safe speaking our feelings aloud. Or it could be that most of us, especially the high school teacher variety, are just weird as shit."
― P.C. Cast, Divine By Mistake
Kiyoko, Chiyuki, and Takehiko tiptoe back into the classroom after their lunch avoiding the eyes of fan girls.
They had shared a quick and relatively quiet meal merely getting used to each others' varied presences and making small talk. Neither side had been willing to breach personal boundaries or offer personal information in the time learned only that Takehiko's clan was incredibly private, with a healthy mix of both civilian and shinobi, and that Chiyuki and Kiyoko have known each other for years.
Kiyoko sends a conspiratorial wink towards Takehiko as she slides into the seat behind the nearly emotionless Uchiha. They had had time to plan some fun after all.
Chiyuki sighs in exasperation as Takehiko slides into the seat she had occupied earlier that morning. Hopefully no one is killed...
He sits down emulating regality with his chin held high and back straight. Easily ignoring those around, and beside, him as he pretends that it's where he belongs. Even as Chiyuki suppresses a snort and moves beside Kiyoko.
Sasuke sends him a fierce glare. "What the hell do-"
Takehiko groans, and sends him an exasperated look before saying loudly. "Look, I know you've been extremely horny lately, but not today." He is forced to hold back a giggle.
Sasuke freezes and stares at him like a fish out of water.
All of his fan-girls stare in abject horror, while a few faint with nosebleeds. The silence in the room could be cut with a knife. All except for Kiyoko and Chiyuki, who were trying to stifle their laughter. Then, once everyone seems to get over their shock, you can feel the anger radiate through the room.
Sakura is the first to speak up. "How dare you say that my Sasuke-kun is gay!" She screeches as most of the other fangirls pipe up in agreement.
Takehiko's gaze slides over them. "I don't really need to say anything, sweetie. Do you hear your precious 'Sasuke-kun' denying it?" His acting is flawless, all the poise a clan heir should have, his confidence seems to make a few girls waver in conviction.
However before long, they draw together once more. His words sink in, pissing them off even more, and they move to attack him. Just as one gets close to him and swings her fist towards his face, Kiyoko appears in front of him and catches her fist. She meets Takehiko's smug, but grateful gaze before throwing her out into the aisle. She glares at the rest of them, who paused as soon as Kiyoko appeared. Her gaze is as cold as ice, and seems to pierce through all of them like a spear. "Anyone who wants to lay a hand on my teammate, will have to go through me first." A vicious smirk slides across her face. "So, who wants to take their chances, ne?"
Chiyuki offers her input with a theatrical show of flashing lightning as she flips into position beside them. "Surely even you know how to pick your battles?" She asks to the room at large as sparks dance around her frame. The plan had worked, and now the theatrics can commence. What fun!
The girls send nervous glances to each other before making a decision to back off. Kiyoko grins at them. "Smart choice. And here I thought that the hormones had erased your common sense." She shrugged. "Guess I have to be wrong sometimes."
Takehiko smiles brightly from between the two girls, not at all embarrassed by them saving his ass. "It's statistics. Not at all your fault."
Chiyuki nods solemnly canceling the special effects with barely a thought. "I fear you'll learn she's wrong far more times than she thinks she is." She sends her friends a playful wink.
Kiyoko's eye twitches. "That was one time, and so what if it blew up a whole acre? It didn't hurt anyone." She grumbled to herself.
Chiyuki raises an eyebrow. "Since when is channeling fire chakra into a pack of explosives in an attempt to block lightning a good idea! It nearly ruined my scarf!"
Takehiko mouths the word scarf to Kiyoko in confusion, not recalling ever seeing their other girl wearing one.
Kiyoko mouths back 'doesn't wear it to academy' to him and shrugs before turning her attention back to Chiyuki. "Ma, ma you're making it seem worse than it was. Originally, I was just aiming to make a mushroom cloud from it... But oh well, thats an experiment for another time." She gets a dark glint in her eyes and a fit of giggles bordering on the edge of insanity overtake her.
The room sweat drops and gives the three a wide berth.
Chiyuki opens her mouth for a scathing rebuttal, but is cut off by the shattering of windows. She pulls her teammates down to the floor as an object soars over their heads and hits the wall with a loud splat. They look up together. The wall is covered in a crimson liquid that begins dripping down the walls. A few people scream in horror as words begin to appear from the strange liquid.
To Squad 4:
Cometh immediately to the front of the Academy...
Iruka growls in irritation. "That better not stain my walls!"
Takehiko's eye twitches. "What the hell?! This looks like someone's dying message at the scene of a massacre!"
Kiyoko blinks. "Wait, there's more..."
P.S. Anyone who sees this and thinks something ordinary like "It looks like a dying message..."
Everyone glances at Takehiko.
... Has no talent for comedy.
Takehiko throws a book at the message. "Shut the hell up!"
Kiyoko snorts, trying to hold back her laughter. "Well, at least we can say that Sensei is going to be interesting..."
Chiyuki blinks. "Zabby and our... Er... Sensei seem like they'd get along." She brushes imaginary flint from her white outfit before walking out the door. "What are you waiting for?" She calls over her shoulder. "That's as obvious an invitation we're going to get."
Takehiko and Kiyoko nod and follow her out. They could still hear Iruka yelling in the background.
Takehiko, Chiyuki, and Kiyoko all stood at the entrance of the Academy. They shared similar looks of disbelief and were outright flabbergasted by just who their Sensei was. Or, more accurately, how he dressed.
Chiyuki is the first to get over her shock taking a deep breath to clear her head before cataloging exactly what was in front of her.
The first note she makes is that his eyes are a warm honey brown, nearly amber in their internal glow, fading to a brown so dark as to be black by the rims of the iris, after all, few think to change their eyes when henge-ing. From there her eyes move outward. She calculates his age to be in the early twenties, twenty-five tops with slightly tanned skin. His angular face sports a goatee - two pairs of two strips on each side of his chin - in a design similar to that of a tiger, his hair a gentle chestnut falling just above his shoulders in spiky waves. Her eyes are drawn to his lips, where with just a slight smile, he exposes surprisingly pointed canines.
A dusting of pink spreads across her cheeks as she quickly looks away, not needing too long to take note of his unique clothing style.
Dressed in his favorite plum kimono, Isshin regards his team with a slight smile. Pink and lilac flowers decorate key points across the entire design. As if lit with an internal light, they turn the plum to a pink before fading back out. Above the waist, a portion is dedicated to a large purple and white butterfly design, a gradient violet sash and lavender flower hold the entire thing together.
Kiyoko blinks, before coming back to reality. "Hello~, Sensei." A light pink dusts her cheeks as she smirks.
Takehiko takes another look at his new sensei and gives a sigh. 'There goes my hope for a positive male influence...' He knew most of his clan had strange ideas on male fashion, but he had been hoping for a little time away from it.
Isshin grins at them. "Ah! There are my little ducklings! Come on now, time to get started. Lets see..." He gives them a thoughtful look. "Why don't we head up to the roof and get to know everyone better, ne?"
Cheeks still flushed, Chuyuki gives a nod of agreement before going over to the nearest wall and dashing up it with the use of chakra, the others following quickly behind as their sensei uses shun-shin to get ahead of them.
She makes a note as she hurries to the roof that their sensei causes a slight sense of inferiority and attributes it to his confidence as no woman had managed that to date. She had always been assured in the sense that she was at least pretty. Chiyuki had inherited aqua blue hair from her mother and was always proud of that small fact though her father's bloodline had left it stark white with only streaks of aqua remaining. She kept it long, down to her waist in fact, rarely tied fully back and often hanging free. (She knows she'll have to change that soon. Too much a target, an unnecessary risk. A boast she can't yet back.) Her eyes shone a startling yellow, almost glowing in dark spaces, another feature from her father. She was small, even for her age and had no development to date unlike her best friend or some of the other girls. She dressed herself in a pure white furisode, altered for battle and only just covering her thighs, worn over skin tight black shorts and a turtleneck that could double as a mask when unfolded. Her black head band was currently functioning to hold the kimono together.
They make it to the roof within seconds of each other.
Isshin laughs, already proud that they're ahead of the game. They sit in a semicircle around him as he pulls out his fan, decorated with lilies and a roaring tiger. "Alright duckies, introduce yourselves. Starting with..." He snaps his fan shut and points at himself. "...Me." He chuckles. "Lets see... My name is Oniyuri Isshin. I like sunsets on water, silk on skin, bunnies and cake. I dislike heels, curry, sexists... and dogs." He grits out darkly, before having a total mood swing and going back to his chipper mood from earlier. "My hobbies are gardening, cooking, and shopping with my Usa-chan! Finally, my dream is to train a team that can carry on my legacy after I'm gone. " He then points his fan at Kiyoko. "Your turn.~"
Kiyoko smirks before nodding. "Alright then, I'm Sarutobi Kiyoko. I like reading, hanging out with my friends and drinking tea with Ji-san. I dislike formal occasions and people who look down on others." Her eyes narrow slightly. "My hobbies are pranking others, playing shogi with my dad, and blowing shit up. My dream is..." She pauses for a moment to collect her thoughts.
"She left out porn..." Chiyuki mutters under her breath, purposefully loud enough for the others to hear her.
Isshin sweat drops while Takehiko lets out a nervous laugh.
Kiyoko continues, pretending that Chiyuki didn't say anything about her love for racy novels. "My dream is to step out from Jii-san's shadow."
Isshin nods to Chiyuki, signifying that it was her turn to introduce herself.
Chiyuki gives him a soft smile and begins. "Raijin Chiyuki. My clan was historically from the Mist. I enjoy thunderstorms and ramen..." She blushes at the admission. "As well as birds, my scarf, and the Sarutobi clan as a whole." She sends Kiyoko a grin. "I can't stand large crowds, dark rooms, or paper work and am highly irritable on windy days. Hobbies include swimming and reading scrolls on new things." She bites her lip as she tries ponders what her dream actually is. "I am not absolutely sure what my main ambition is, but I would like to retrieve my family heirloom, the Kiba, one day."
Isshin nods and finally points his fan at Takehiko. "Now you."
Takehiko smiles nervously. "Okay... I'm Kusajishi Takehiko. I like the stars, swords, legends and the number four. I dislike bad rapping, early mornings, odd numbers and zombies." He pauses to think for a moment. "My hobbies are star-gazing, magic tricks, and drawing. Lastly, my dream is to genetically engineer ducks to speak our language, only to criticize people's fashion sense, and to eventually become the head of my clan."
Kiyoko blinks and stares at him for a moment. "Wait... What?"
Chiyuki and Isshin join her in giving him a horrified, and partially amused stare.
"What?" Takehiko asks in confusion. "You asked for my dream. I think it is a perfectly reasonable one to have."
Chiyuki shakes her head slowly, trying to come to terms with the idea. "The second part is reasonable... But I don't even want to know how the first came about."
Kiyoko shrugs and smiles at him. "If it makes you feel any better, I once had a dream to paint a giant turtle on the Hokage monument."
Chiyuki shakes her head. "You did do that, remember?"
Kiyoko grins while getting a wistful look in her eye. "Yeah, and it was awesome! I was so sad when they took Turtle-sama down."
Isshin lets out a hearty laugh before smiling at them ruefully. "You guys are pretty odd, you know that?" He sighs, his expression becoming torn. "Too bad that you probably won't pass my test tomorrow, I really like you guys."
Chiyuki lets out a stream of expletives, words she remembers her father using during bad situations. "I knew that test was too easy!" She growls out curses to the academy instructors and whoever decided the academy curriculum. A hint of insanity enters her eyes as she plots ways to destroy them.
Takehiko groans, silently cursing whoever was insane enough to come up with something like this.
Kiyoko eyes him warily. "From what I've gathered, it's a Sensei's choice to administer the test or not. So, what will it be, Sensei?"
Isshin grins. "Aww, such smart little duckies I have." An evil glint enters his eyes. "Hopefully, those smarts will keep you alive when you're taking your test tomorrow. Meet me at training ground eleven tomorrow at six AM. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You might throw it up, and that's a mess that I do not want to take care of." He offers a little wave. "Until tomorrow my lovely duckies, goodbye~!" With that said, he disappears via shun-shin, leaving them in a cloud of chakra smoke.
"Can't be worse than the rumors about Mist." Chiyuki's expression is completely unamused. "So, breakfast at my apartment at four thirty?"
"He just told us not to eat though..." Takehiko voices uncertainly.
She sighs as if put upon by an idiot. "Otou-chan always said, 'You have to eat if and when you can. No excuses. You never know when your next meal will come or if you'll even have one.' Otou-chan hasn't led me wrong yet." She nods as if that should explain everything.
Kiyoko gives him a stern, motherly look. "Besides, shinobi need to eat. While it is true that heavy exercise can make you throw up, the side effects of skipping a meal will be ten times more devastating than eating one. If they don't get proper nutrition, then their whole body isn't working to its full potential." She sighs. "Besides that, shinobi have to go out on long, extremely rough missions all the time. So they have to eat at some point, don't they?"
Takehiko nods in understanding. "So, Isshin-sensei telling us not to eat... Was most likely the beginning of our test." He looks at his 'teammates' for confirmation. "Possibly a way to determine if we'd either follow orders to the letter, or a logic test. Maybe both?"
Kiyoko nods. "A bit of both possibly. I know that Ji-san taught me that even though you should follow your superiors orders, it doesn't hurt to question the reasoning behind it sometimes." She smiles wryly. "For example, if the orders don't seem to be logical, then there is a good chance that you're being played. I've had a few occasions where that advice was really handy and has most likely saved my life." Her eyes seem to grow distant. "A shinobi must be able to see underneath the underneath." She says as if reciting it directly from a book.
Chiyuki sends both a proud look. "But, one must never become obsessed to the point of all else. There is a limit and sometimes a friend is just that."
Takehiko smiles ruefully. "I feel like I'm back in Iruka's history classes again."
Kiyoko sends him a wicked grin. "I wouldn't know. I was hardly ever around for those."
Chiyuki blushes. "I still can't remember the names of all the Hokage, and there were only four of those. And don't even attempt to ask about the Founding."
Kiyoko shrugs. "I just didn't want to listen to stuff that I already knew." She stands up and stretches. "So, breakfast at Chi's? Four thirty?" She glances around as everyone nods, smiling mostly to herself. "Well, I'm off to find my Otou-san then. Bye!" With that said, she quickly scampers off.
Chiyuki blinks at her friends rapid departure before shrugging. She grabs Takehiko by the arm and begins to drag him off. "Well, time to show you where I live then. Can't have you late because you were lost."
Takehiko sighs and just goes along with her knowing that it would be worse if he didn't.
-End-
Author's Note:
BA: Takehiko is such a precious cinnamon roll.
LT: -snorts- You are awful. They finally meet the sensei though… The poor darlings.
BA: -grins wickedly- Is that some foreshadowing I hear?
LT: -looks side to side- Shush. Don't help.
BA: -cackles-
